Pages

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Tenth Anniversary of the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge after survey opens on May 3, 2019. Reflections open on May 6.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Back-to-School Means...

Hey there friends, it's been a while since I've taken a turn at this wonderful venue. It's been quite the summer for us - each day a new surprise adventure, some good, some bad, some scary, some a total blessing. I'll come out and say it: I consider summer over as of today. My youngest started high school.For many of us, end of summer and beginning of fall doesn't much matter. Our lives run on a regular schedule, January-December. Once we were done with school, we became adjusted to a different calendar.That's never been the case for me. I went from being a student into immediately being a teacher into having kids and then they had a school schedule. My life runs mid-August, then all around the year, with summer in between.There are many rituals I enjoy about getting ready for a new school year to begin: buying school supplies, getting new clothes, getting a fresh haircut, and other preparations. Egads there's more when you have a senior. I had been warned repeatedly by my friends with older kids, but being me, Schedule Woman, I thought, "How much different can it be?" I was wrong. I'm adjusting.What does "back-to-school" signify for you? What's the school year like in your country? What calendar does you life run by? Do tell.~Tina, feeling a bit blue, yet also excited because my son was so thrilled about going :-)

Like you, I never left the academic schedule. I went from grad school to marriage with a professor, so we've always been on that schedule. I'm always glad in a way when summer ends, because I get a regular (sort of) schedule back, and above all I get the house to myself, which makes it easier for me to write.

With no kids it's been awhile since I had to think about back to school schedules. However, in talking with my cousin about her two young children a couple of weeks ago, I learned school (even for first graders) has changed drastically since I went. I couldn't believe some of the changes she told me about.

I feel like my whole life has revolved around the school year - my own, then after I married, I was still on the school year with my youngest siblings (I am from a large family), then my own children. Now that my children have grown and had children of their own, I live by my grandkids schedules. Crazy isn't it! What I miss most when school starts are the happy sounds of children playing. We used to live near a school and I could hear the children laughing and playing on the playground. No matter how old I get, I still love to listen to the magic of children's laughter.